City councilman Tommy Gonzalez wants to remove us from participation in the Lone Star Rail District, claiming that our latest resident survey (2012) shows opposition to raise taxes to “Build commuter rail system to Austin and San Antonio.”

But the Rail District doesn’t take our taxes to build the rail system. So his agenda item is actually empty of substance. He also cites the survey results for a city transit system , which is not on the table at council on Tuesday, and is at this time irrelevant. What matters is that he infers a mandate to remove us from the Rail District, on grounds that don’t actually exist, and to prevent a result that won’t happen anyway. He misunderstands our involvement in the Rail District, and his proposal should be pulled from the agenda. He infers a mandate where there is none.

For Tuesday, June 11, 2013, Item Q on the agenda reads:

Review and possible direction to terminate the current contract with Lone Star Rail District in the annual amount of $50,000 as evidenced by the results of the 2012 Citizen Survey –Tommy Gonzalez, Mayor Pro Tem, Councilmember, District 7

From page 17 of the survey, this is the section of the survey he makes his case from: